This study will be an observational account of the relationship between family routines and the content and dynamics of family interaction. Using observers trained in anthropologic methods, a one-week participant-observation of six families will be completed and analyzed by a multidisciplinary committee with representation from Medicine, Public Health, and the Social Sciences. Particular emphasis will be placed on descriptive analysis of the symbolic content of family routine and their relationship to stability and resilience within individual families. This work would represent an important step toward a thorough investigation of the structure of daily life in families and would elucidate the function of family routines as a potentially important aspect of social experience in childhood. Previous research suggests that family routines may bear important relationships to patterns of childhood health and disease.